One of my favorite meals to make in this world is a teriyaki beef stir fry. There’s just something about beef and teriyaki sauce that makes it a perfect pairing. With that in mind, today I’ll be sharing an authentic gourmet teriyaki beef jerky recipe that takes everything I love about that meal and makes a fantastic beef jerky snack out of it. You’ll be making your own homemade teriyaki marinade using some incredibly tasty ingredients. The marinade is honestly amazing – it’s worth the price of admission for that alone! But when using it to make beef jerky with some grass-fed beef? This is one high protein snack you definitely won’t be able to put down.

My Favorite Way to Enjoy the Taste of Teriyaki

Anytime you’re making anything with a teriyaki sauce, it’s the sauce itself that will make or break your recipe. This beef jerky is no exception. The good news is that this homemade teriyaki sauce exceeded all of my expectations. It’s seriously delicious – and it’s super easy to make as well. You’ll need to use a food processor to combine all of the ingredients that go into it – fresh pineapple chunks, water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic cloves, brown sugar, black pepper, onion powder, ginger powder, and sriracha. You can tell just by looking at that ingredient list that this teriyaki sauce is full of sweet, salty, and ever so slightly spicy flavor.

Many of the ingredients used to make the teriyaki sauce also help to make this quite a healthy snack to enjoy as well. The pineapple chunks contain an enzyme known as bromelain, which aids with the digestion of proteins. (1) Considering how much protein this beef jerky provides, making a sauce that contains bromelain is definitely a good idea. Speaking of digestive benefits, Japanese studies have found that fermented soy sauce also helps promote digestion by enhancing gastric juice secretion in humans. (2)

Using rice vinegar instead of traditional types of vinegar commonly used in the west is another great way to make sure your teriyaki sauce is full of flavor. Rice vinegar is noticeably sweet and mild, making it a good option to pair with soy sauce. Brown sugar is used in this recipe as well since it’s one of the main four ingredients that usually goes into making teriyaki sauce. One of the other main ingredients is ginger, which helps to add a ton of flavor while also offering some great anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. (3)

I’m also a huge fan of adding both garlic and onion powder into the mix. They both add a ton of flavor to the sauce, while also offering some great benefits for your immune system as well. Most of the benefits offered by garlic and onion are due to sulfur compounds and other bioflavonoids. Studies have actually found that the compounds in vegetables of the Allum family are able to help lower your risk of developing cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. (4) Anything that can help to lower your disease risk while tasting as great as garlic and onions do is definitely something that deserves a spot in your kitchen!

Adding a single tablespoon of sriracha sauce helps to give your teriyaki sauce just the right amount of spiciness as well. If you aren’t too keen on spicy foods, then feel free to leave the sriracha out. However, I definitely recommend giving it a try! With the teriyaki sauce made, go ahead and marinate your cuts of beef in it for a minimum of eight hours in the refrigerator. When making any of our beef jerky recipes, I always recommend using grass-fed cuts of beef over beef from grain-fed cows – not only does it taste better, but it contains higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. (5)

If you live somewhere where it’s difficult to find grass-fed beef, then check out ButcherBox. They’ll conveniently deliver grass-fed beef (and a variety of other types of meat) straight to your door on a monthly basis. You should definitely look into ordering their beef box.

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Evelyn - HealthySubstitute.com

Hello! It's Evelyn. I create all of the dreamy (and body/mind/soul-fueling) food wonders here on Healthy Substitute. Eat well every day, love your diet and maintain a good relationship with food by using my incredibly easy-to-make (and soul-satisfying) healthier recipes. If you've made this recipe, please rate it and give feedback below!